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Religious Protection Laws in the United States

An Historical Timeline of the So-called "Blaine"
Amendments

The separation of religious activities from government functions has
been cherished in the United States for over 200 years. Indeed, many of
our Nation's immigrants journeyed to America to escape state
sponsored religious discrimination and coercion.

Amendments to
state constitutions that support this fundamental concept were adopted
and continue to be enforced as a way to protect the religious freedom of
all citizens. During recent years, attempts have been made to revise or
to altogether delete these state constitutional amendments to facilitate
the privatization of government functions, in particular, those
associated with public education.

Sending children to religious
schools using taxpayer funded vouchers and tuition tax credits are two
strategies the privatizers view as ways to accomplish their goal but
state religious protection laws stand in their way.

The following
information is not intended to be a comprehensive listing of the history
of U.S. religious protection law. Rather, it highlights some of the
more significant efforts citizens and elected officials have undertaken
to preserve a uniquely American freedom.

1791

Bill of Rights. First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of
grievances." — Amendment I to the United States
Constitution, December 15, 1791.[1]

1802

Thomas Jefferson writes a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association
in 1802 explaining why he did not support national days of fasting and
thanksgiving. His letter contained the phrase "wall of separation
between church and state," which lead to the Establishment Clause to which we currently adhere: "Separation of
church and state." The section appearing in bold type —
from his original draft — was deleted by Jefferson to avoid
offending party members.[2]

"Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely
between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith
or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions
only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act
of the whole American people which declared that their legislature
should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of
separation between church and state. [Congress thus inhibited
from acts respecting religion, and the Executive authorised only to
execute their acts, I have refrained from presenting even occasional
performances of devotion presented indeed legally where an Executive is
the legal head of a national church, but subject here, as religious
exercises only to the voluntary regulations and discipline of each
respective sect.] Adhering to this expression of the supreme
will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see
with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to
restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right
in opposition to his social duties." [3]

1820's

The Free School Society, a New York City group which ran
non-sectarian schools, protested plans proposed by a Baptist church to
open a school for poor children using public funds. The Free School
Society believed public funds should not be used to support sectarian
schools. [4]

1835

The Michigan legislature adopts its
church-state separation amendment to their constitution, the first to do
so upon becoming a state [5] and retained similar restrictions
in 1970.[6] A total of 19 states adopted similar language
before Blaine proposed his Constitutional Amendment in December
1875.[7]

1838

The Roman Catholic bishop of New York City began to lobby for
government funding of the City's Catholic schools setting off
debates that lasted until 1894 when New York adopted constitutional
language prohibiting the state from funding sectarian schools.
[8]

1852

1853

New York followed Massachusetts' lead by establishing a public
school system. By 1918 all states had laws for compulsory school
attendance.[10]

1864

Pope Pius IX issued his
"Syllabus of Errors", repudiating the concept of religious
freedom by seeking favored treatment of Catholicism by all governments.
[11]

1872

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the practice of Protestant Bible
reading in the state's public schools was sectarian.[12]
This case was precipitated by a Cincinnati school board resolution of
1869 that prohibited religious instruction in the city's public
schools. [13]

1875

President Ulysses S. Grant supported the idea of a constitutional
amendment that would require states to establish systems of public
schools free from sectarian influences and bar appropriations of tax aid
to religious schools. In a speech given in September 1875 Grant said
states should "Encourage free schools, and resolve that not one
dollar, appropriated for their support, shall be appropriated to the
support of any sectarian schools."[14] Later that same
year, Grant again advocated for a Constitutional Amendment that would
result in "making it the duty of each of the several states to
establish and forever maintain free public schools adequate to the
education of all children . . . [and] forbidding the teaching in said
schools of religious, atheistic or pagan tenets."[15]

James Blaine proposed his amendment to the federal Constitution and
introduced it in Congress on December 14, 1875. Easily passing a House
vote the Amendment died in the Senate in 1876. [16]

1876

Congress passed a law requiring that every
state admitted to the Union after 1876 put a provision in its
constitution stating that it would maintain a public school system
"free from sectarian control."[17]

1894

Legislators in New York changed the
state constitution, adding language to prohibit public funds from being
given to religious schools.[18]

1938

New York retains church-state
separation language in revised state constitution.[19]

1971

1972

1973

Lawmakers held a constitutional
convention to update Louisiana's outdated constitution. Strong
lobbying efforts by the Roman Catholic Church lead to the removal of the
state's religious protection law and voters then ratified the new
constitution. As a result, millions of dollars in state aid have been
distributed to parochial schools even though the state's public
school system has been regarded as one of the worst in the
nation.[24]

1986

In
Massachusetts, 70 percent of voters chose to retain their religious
protection law.[29]

2000

Voters in California and Michigan
rejected referenda that would have repealed church-state separation
language and allowed the use of publicly funded vouchers in their
states.[30]

2002

Circuit court Judge P. Kevin Davey
declared Florida's voucher law unconstitutional finding that the
"clear and unambiguous" language in the state's
constitution clearly prohibits the practice of delivering public funds
to religious schools. The state has appealed the ruling.[31]

2003

The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to
hear arguments resulting from Washington state's Locke v.
Davey case where a college student was denied public support to
complete his theological studies.[32] On December 2, 2003,
the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments in the case.[33]

After the Colorado legislature passed its state funded voucher plan
the Colorado PTA filed suit stating that the plan violates sections of
Colorado's Constitution that prohibit public funds from being used
to support private and religious schools. Attorneys from the Colorado
Education Association and National Education Association represented the
PTA in the suit.[34] National organizations supported the
lawsuit. They included the American Civil Liberties Union, American
Federation of Teachers, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish
Congress, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, League of
United Latin American Citizens, National Education Association, the
NAACP, National PTA, and People for the American Way
Foundation.[35] On December 3, 2003, a Colorado district
court decided in favor of the plaintiffs.[36]